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The plastic eaters

The hungry enzymes that might just be the solution to plastic pollution.

Every year the world produces 400 million tonnes of plastic 鈥 the same weight as all the humans on earth.

Only a small proportion of this is recycled, and this isn鈥檛 proper recycling but 鈥渄owncycling鈥 鈥 the new plastic is of a lower quality, meaning that almost all plastic eventually goes to waste.

But now French company Carbios is using enzymes to break plastic down into its chemical building blocks 鈥 which can then be used to make high quality plastic again.

So is plastic on the brink of becoming a resource like glass or aluminium, that you can keep on moulding and recycling again and again?

Presenter: Myra Anubi
Reporter/producer: William Kremer
Series producer: Jon Bithrey
Sound mix: Gareth Jones
Editor: Penny Murphy

email: peoplefixingtheworld@bbc.co.uk

Image: Carbios scientist holds pieces of plastic, 成人快手

Available now

23 minutes

Last on

Mon 4 Dec 2023 03:06GMT

Broadcasts

  • Tue 28 Nov 2023 08:06GMT
  • Tue 28 Nov 2023 15:06GMT
  • Tue 28 Nov 2023 18:06GMT
  • Tue 28 Nov 2023 23:06GMT
  • Mon 4 Dec 2023 03:06GMT

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